Notable National Fintechs In MENA

MENA's central banks are disrupting Fintech, laying the groundwork with regulations and launching national gateways to help move to cashless economies. Here are five national payment gateways owned by central and public banks in the Middle East.

- AMR ABDELHAMID

• InstaPay

Country: Egypt

InstaPay was launched in March 2022 by the Egyptian Banks Company, the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE’s) technological arm, to allow direct access to bank accounts and instant transfers via an app. As of March 2023, the app had partnered with nearly 26 banks in Egypt, including the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, ALEXBANK, and CIB. Since its establishment, InstaPay has processed over 20.3 million instant money transfer transactions worth a total of $3.7 billion, with 2.16 million customers. In midMarch 2023, CBE raised the maximum limit of transactions through the app to $2,263 for a single transaction, $3,879 for daily transactions, and $12,930 for monthly transactions.

• International Smart Card (QiCard)

County: Iraq